Seal Porous Caribou Horns before PP?

Submitted by Jer on 2/16/05 at 9:59 PM. ( ) 24.24.95.168

I've been through the archives and learned a bunch about finishing caribou antlers. I've got them pretty white by soaking in water with bleach and am going to use Potassium Permanganate. They were in velvet and I've noticed they are real porous. I can't find anything to tell me if I should seal them before using the PP and what to use. It seems they would really soak up the stain if I dont. Thanks. This is a great forum. I've learned a ton over the years. Jer

Quebec/Labrador species, right?

This response submitted by George on 2/16/05 at 11:04 PM. ( georoof@aol.com ) 152.163.100.133

These are a real pain as they are EARLY velvet antlers that haven't stopped growing yet. You are correct and according to the age of them, you may have real trouble. This boney sponge is very fragile and oftentimes just crumbles. I'd suggest inserting a wire and building an antler tip with Apoxie Sculpt, cover it with Epo-Grip Antler Repair, sand lightly and stain with an oil stain. Some even paint the whole antler with flat white acrylic paint and then stain them.

staining caribou horns

This response submitted by shannon on 2/16/05 at 11:06 PM. ( ) 69.2.162.218

I just finished mounting and staining seven caribou that were in velvet when killed. I lightly sanded the antlers and then just stained them with a walnut gel stain. They turned out great,customers were very pleased.

Thanks...

This response submitted by Jer on 2/17/05 at 5:44 PM. ( ) 129.33.1.37

They seem solid enough except for the tips, they were lost when I soaked them. I think I can sand them round since I only lost 1/4" or so. The antlers are really only porous at the palms, the beams seem like solid antler. I'm going to seal the palms with thinned off white paint to fill the pores, stain, then wax.....Never did a caribou, its always fun to mount a new critter.....

What I did...

I drove all the way to Alaska and killed a decent bull on a do it yourself hunt with my bow. Since I work for a school system I had to be back by mid August. I killed it right at the end of July. I soaked it in a solution that was meant to save the velvet. No it didn't work. Shortly after arriving home it started slipping and stinking to high heavens. The antler tips were still soft and falling apart.

What I did was peel the velvet off and then soaked the antlers in salt water for a few days. Then I used apoxie sculpt and wire to rebuild all the antler tips. After staining it turned out pretty decent. This was quite time consuming but worked okay. For a while there I thought I'd have to throw it out....

what i did

This response submitted by nvhunter on 2/17/05 at 6:38 PM. ( ) 198.81.26.79

i killed my caribou a few years ago it had just rubbed the vejvet off whea i shot him when i got him home i used ppand linseed oil that i thinned with lacquer thinner and used my air brush to put it on you can build it up as much as you like i have had several commints on how nice it looks